)  ^ 

)  H 

ii 

11                     THE 

1    .^OISONGROfFTHof 

i'       Prussianism 

''Oh,  Land  of  Now,  oh, 

Land  of  Then'' 

BY 

Otto  H.  Kahn 

) 

ADDRESS  IN  AUDITORIUM 

MILWAUKEE,    WISCONSIN 

JANUARY   13,    1918 

THE 

Poison  Growth  of 
Prussianism 

''Oh,  Land  of  Now,  oh, 
Land  of  Then'' 


BY 

Otto  H.  Kahn 


ADDRESS  IN  AUDITORIUM 

MILWAUKEE,   WISCONSIN 

JANUARY    13,  1918 


my 


The  Poison  Growth  of  Prussianisni 

Address  in 

Auditorium,  Milwaukee,  Wisconsin 

January  13,1918 

THE  speech  I  am  about  to  make 
is  attuned  to  the  spirit  and  the 
fact  of  war. 
A  few  days  ago,  as  you  ah  know, 
President  Wilson  once  more  spoke  to 
this  nation  and  to  the  world  in  a  great 
and  noble  message  of  splendid  vision — 
holding  up  a  veritable  beacon  light  of 
right  and  justice  for  all  peoples. 

We  all  pray  with  eager  and  earnest 
hope  that  the  German  people  will 
recognize  the  spirit  and  meaning  of 
that  lofty  utterance  and  that,  casting 
aside  the  odious  leadership  of  the  mili- 
tarists,   they    will    grasp    the     hand 

211B544 


THE       POISON       GROWTH 

stretched  out  to  them  in  such  generous 
and  unselfish  meaning. 

Even  as  I  speak  the  leaven  of  that 
great  message  may  be  working  in 
Germany  with  potent  effect.  I  have 
no  information  other  than  what  you 
all  have,  but  I  hope  I  am  not  over- 
sanguine  in  giving  heed  to  a  feeling 
that  some  parts  of  what  I  am  going  to 
say  are  perhaps  in  process  of  being 
superseded  by  events  that  may  be 
forming. 

Let  us  all  trust  that  it  be  so,  and  that 
we  may  soon  be  enabled  to  substitute 
for  the  harsh  accents  of  arraignment 
and  enmity  the  feelings  and  the  lan- 
guage of  peaceful  intercourse  and  of 
that  new  relationship  which  the  Presi- 
dent's leadership  is  seeking  to  bring 
about  amongst  all  the  nations. 

But  until  that  "consummation  de- 
voutly to  be  wished"  is  attained,  let  us 
take  care  lest  we  permit  the  hope  of  it 


OF  PRUSSIA     X     I     S     M 

to  diminish  our  effort  or  to  weaken  our 
determination.  Neither  hope  nor  any 
other  motive  or  influence  must  be 
suffered  for  one  moment  to  divert  us 
from  the  stern  and  resohite  pursuit,  to 
the  utmost  of  our  capacity,  of  our  high 
and  solemn  purpose  as  it  has  been  pro- 
claimed in  the  great  messages  of 
America's  spokesman  and  leader. 


In  attempting  to  deal  with  the  ques- 
tions that  I  shall  discuss,  I  must  apolo- 
gize for  using  the  personal  pronoun  a 
good  deal  more  than  would  seem  con- 
sonant with  due  modesty.  My  excuse 
is  that  whatever  weight  my  observa- 
tions may  have  with  you,  lies  mainly  in 
the  fact  that  I  am  of  German  birth, 
that  until  the  outbreak  of  the  war  I 
kept  in  close  touch  with  German  men 
and  affairs,  that  I  loved  the  old  Ger- 

[5] 


THE       POISON       GROWTH 

many  and  that  the  conclusions  which 
I  am  about  to  state  I  have  reached  in 
grief  and  bitter  disappointment. 

For  these  reasons,  also,  what  I  shall 
say  from  personal  knowledge  and  ob- 
servation and  in  a  personal  way  may 
have  some  effect  upon  those  among 
my  fellow  citizens  of  my  own  blood 
whose  eyes  may  not  have  been  opened 
fully  to  the  difference  between  the 
Germany  they  knew  and  the  Germany 
of  1914,  and  who,  owing  to  insufficient 
and  incorrect  information,  may  not  yet 
have  discerned  with  entire  clearness  the 
path  of  right  and  duty  nor  perceived  the 
true  inwardness  of  the  unprecedented 
tragedy  which  has  befallen  the  world. 


[6] 


0     F  P      R      r     S      S      I      A      X      I     S      M 


II 


The  world  has  been  hurt  within 
these  past  three  years  as  it  w  as  never 
hurt  before.  In  the  gloomy  and  accus- 
ing procession  of  infinite  sorrow  and 
pain  which  was  started  on  that  thrice 
accursed  day  of  July,  1914,  the  hurt 
inflicted  on  Americans  of  German 
descent  takes  its  tragically  rightful 
place. 

The  iron  has  entered  our  souls.  We 
have  been  wantonly  robbed  of  invalu- 
able possessions  which  have  come  down 
to  us  through  the  centuries;  we  have 
been  rendered  ashamed  of  that  in 
which  we  took  pride;  we  have  been 
made  the  enemies  of  those  of  our  own 

[7] 


THE       POISON       G    R    0    W    T    H 

blood ;  our  very  names  carry  the  sound 
of  a  challenge  to  the  world. 

Surely  we  have  all  too  valid  a  title  to 
rank  amongst  those  most  bitterly  ag- 
grieved by  Prussianism,  and  to  align 
ourselves  in  the  very  forefront  of  those 
who  in  word  and  deed  are  fighting  to 
rid  the  world  forever  of  that  malignant 
growth. 

Heaven  knows,  I  do  not  want,  by 
anything  I  may  be  saying  or  doing,  to 
add  one  ounce  to  the  burden  of  the 
world's  execration  which  rests  already 
with  crushing  weight  upon  the  rulers  of 
Germany  and  their  misguided  people. 
Nor  do  I  seek  forgiveness  for  my  Ger- 
man birth  by  demonstrative  zeal  in 
action  or  speech. 

I  was  and  am  proud  of  the  great  in- 
heritance which  came  to  me  as  a 
birthright  and  of  the  illustrious  con- 
tributions which  the  German  people 
have  made  to  the  imperishable  assets 


OF  P     R      U     S     S     I     A      N     I     S     M 

of  the  world.  Until  the  outbreak  of 
the  war  in  1914,  I  maintained  close  and 
active  personal  and  business  relations 
in  Germany.  I  was  well  acquainted 
with  a  number  of  the  leading  person- 
ages of  the  country.  I  served  in  the 
German  army  thirty  years  ago.  I  took 
an  active  interest  in  furthering  German 
art  in  America. 

I  do  not  apologize  for,  nor  am  I 
ashamed  of,  my  German  birth.  But  I 
am  ashamed — bitterly  and  grievously 
ashamed — of  the  Germany  which 
stands  convicted  before  the  high 
tribunal  of  the  world's  public  opinion 
of  having  planned  and  willed  war;  of 
the  revolting  deeds  committed  in  Bel- 
gium and  northern  France,  of  the  in- 
famy of  the  Lusitania  murders,  of 
innumerable  violations  of  The  Hague 
convention  and  the  law  of  nations,  of 
abominable  and  perfidious  plotting  in 
friendly  countries  and  shameless  abuse 


THE       POISON       GROWTH 

of  their  hospitality,  of  crime  heaped 
upon  crime  in  hideous  defiance  of  the 
laws  of  God  and  men. 

I  cherish  the  memories  of  my  youth, 
but  these  very  n>emories  make  me  cry 
out  in  pain  and  wrath  against  those  who 
have  befouled  the  spiritual  soil  of  the 
old  Germany,  in  which  they  were  rooted. 

I  revere  the  high  ideals  and  fine  tra- 
ditions of  that  old  Germany  and  the 
time-honored  conceptions  of  right 
conduct  which  my  parents  and  the 
teachers  of  my  early  youth  bade  me 
treasure  throughout  life,  but  all  the 
more  burning  is  my  resentment,  all  the 
more  deeply  grounded  my  hostility, 
against  the  Prussian  caste  who  tram- 
pled those  ideals,  traditions  and  con- 
ceptions in  the  dust. 

Long  before  the  war,  I  had  come  to 
look  upon  Prussianism  as  amongst  the 
deadliest  poison  growths  that  ever 
sprang  from  the  soil  of  the  spirit  of  man. 

[10] 


OF  P     R     V     S     S     I     A     N     I     S     31 

When  the  war  broke  out  in  Europe, 
when  Belgium  was  invaded,  I  searched 
my  conscience  and  my  judgment  in 
sorrow  and  anguish,  the  powerful  voice 
of  blood  arguing  against  the  still, 
small  voice  of  right. 

And  it  became  clear  to  me  to  the 
point  of  solemn  and  unshakeable  con- 
viction that  Prussianism,  in  mad  in- 
fatuation, had  committed  the  crowning 
sin  of  outraging  and  defying  the  con- 
science of  the  world  and  of  challenging 
right  to  mortal  combat  against  might 
and  that  the  cause  which  the  Allies 
were  defending  was  our  cause,  because 
it  was  the  cause  of  peace,  humanity, 
justice  and  liberty  (aye,  liberty,  even 
though  Russia,  then  under  autocratic 
rule,  happened  to  be  arrayed  on  that 
side,  and  even  though  diplomats  and 
rulers  made  that  sacred  cause  the  basis 
and  excuse  for  territorial  barter  and 
trade  and  spoils  hunting). 

fill 


THE       POISON       GROWTH 

In  accordance  with  this  conviction, 
I  have  acted  and  spoken  ever  since, 
but  I  did  not  feel  that  it  would  be  either 
right  or  fitting  for  me  publicly  to 
state  and  agitate  my  views  as  long  as 
our  country  was  neutral. 

Now,  America,  the  never-defeated, 
has  thrown  her  sword  into  the  scale, 
because  to  do  so  was  indispensable  for 
the  vindication  of  the  basic  and  element- 
ary principles  of  right  and  peace  among 
the  nations,  no  less  than  for  our  own 
honor  and  our  own  safety,  the  preserva- 
tion of  our  institutions  and  our  very 
destiny. 

To  co-operate  towards  the  success- 
ful conclusion  of  the  war  is  the  one 
and  supreme  duty  of  every  American, 
regardless  of  birth,  of  sympathies  and 
of  political  views.  The  American  of 
German  descent  who,  in  this  time  of 
test  and  trial,  does  not  serve  the  land 
of  his  adoption  with  the  utmost  meas- 

[12] 


OF  P     R     U     S     S     I     A      N     I     S     M 

ure  of  single-minded  devotion  and 
with  every  ounce  of  his  power,  per- 
jured himself  when  he  took  his  oath 
of  allegiance  and  proves  himself  guilty 
of  treacherous  duplicity. 

Thank  Heaven,  the  number  of  those 
lukewarm  in  their  patriotism,  or  failing 
in  loyalty,  is  very  small  indeed,  far  too 
small  to  affect  the  record  of  Americans 
of  German  birth  for  good  citizenship  and 
service  to  the  country  in  peace  and  war. 

There  is  abundant  evidence  that  the 
overwhelming  majority,  indeed  all  but 
an  insignificant  minority,  meant  what 
they  said  when  they  swore  full  and  sole 
allegiance  to  America,  that  they  will 
prove  themselves  wholly  worthy  of  the 
high  privilege  of  citizenship  and  of  the 
generous  trust  of  their  native  fellow 
citizens,  and  that  they  will  not  fail  or 
falter  under  any  test  whatsoever. 

We  will  not  permit  the  blood  in  our 
veins   to   drown   the   conscience   in   our 

[13] 


THE       POISON       G    R    0    W    T    II 

breast.  We  will  heed  the  call  of  honor 
beyond  the  call  of  race. 

We  will  wear  as  a  badge  of  honor 
the  abuse  and  spite  of  those  who  place 
another  cause,  whatever  it  be,  above 
the  Nation's  cause  and  who  see  hypoc- 
risy or  hidden  motives  behind  the  plain 
profession  of  unconditional  loyalty  on 
the  part  of  the  American  of  foreign 
birth,  because  unconditional  American 
loyalty  is  not  in  them. 

Yet,  it  is  not  enough  for  us  Ameri- 
cans of  German  descent  to  do  our  duty 
by  our  country  and  fellow  citizens, 
however  fully  and  unreservedly,  if  we 
do  it  in  resigned  and  oppressed  silence. 
I  believe  we  should  speak  out.  We 
must  give  voice  to  our  unflinching 
loyalty  and  to  our  deep  conviction  of 
the  justice  of  America's  cause. 

It  is  hard  indeed,  for  us  to  arraign 
publicly  the  country  from  which  we 
sprang  and  to  turn  against  our  own 

[14] 


OF  PRUSSIA      X     I     S      M 

kith  and  kin,  however  deep  our  detesta- 
tion of  their  wrongdoing  under  the 
spiritual  and  actual  sway  of  the  Prus- 
sian caste  and  however  sincere  our 
allegiance  to  America.  It  will  be 
easily  understood  by  all  fair-minded 
men  that  right  thinking  persons  will 
shrink  from  so  speaking  and  acting  as 
to  lay  themselves  open  to  the  accusa- 
tion of  being  time-servers  or  popularity 
seekers,  and  to  expose  their  motives  to 
misconstruction. 

These  scruples  are  honorable,  and 
they  are  felt  by  many  whose  patriotic 
loyalty  and  devotion  are  beyond  all 
question.  But,  to  my  thinking,  they 
are  stamped  out  by  the  iron  tread  of 
the  times. 

I  believe  that  we  should  speak  out, 
we  Americans  of  German  birth,  because 
we  have  been  misrepresented  to  our 
fellow  citizens  and  to  the  world  by 
a  small  minority  of  professional  spokes- 

[15] 


THE       POISON       GROWTH 

men  and  pernicious  agitators,  by  no 
means  all  of  German  birth. 

We  must  protect  the  German  name, 
as  far  as  it  is  in  our  keeping,  in  America, 
if,  alas,  we  cannot  protect  it  elsewhere. 

It  has  always,  and  rightly,  been  an 
honored  name  here,  and  those  who 
bore  it  have  ever  done  their  full  share 
for  the  common  weal,  in  the  works  of 
peace  no  less  than  in  every  crisis  of  the 
Nation's  history.  Let  us  do  what  in  us 
lies  to  preserve  the  names  we  bear  in 
honor  and  good  standing  amongst  our 
fellow  citizens. 

I  believe  that  we  should  speak  out, 
because  our  voices  may  reach  the  ear 
and  the  conscience  of  the  German  peo- 
ple when  no  other  voices  can,  and  be- 
cause they  will  reach  the  ear  of  its 
rulers.  These,  I  know,  counted  upon 
the  moral,  if  not  the  actual,  support  of 
the  German-born  in  America  to  the 
extent,  at  least,  of  preventing  our  join- 

fl61 


OF  P     R      U     S     S     I     A      N      I     S      M 

ing  the  war,  and  now,  when  we  have 
joined,  they  count  upon  that  support 
to  agitate  for  an  inconclusive  and  un- 
righteous peace. 

I  beheve  that  we  should  speak  out  to 
convince  our  native-born  fellow  citizens 
that  our  fundamental  conceptions  of 
right  and  wrong  are  like  theirs,  that 
the  taint  of  Germany  is  not  in  the  blood, 
but  in  the  system  of  rulership,  that  we  are 
with  them  and  of  them  wholeheartedly, 
single-mindedly  and  unreservedly;  be- 
cause if  we  failed  in  conveying  to  them 
that  conviction  in  the  hour  of  our 
common  country's  stress  and  trial, 
there  would  ensue  the  calamity  of 
a  spiritual,  if  not  an  actual,  breach 
between  them  and  us  which  it  would 
take  a  generation  to  heal. 


[17 


THE       P    0    I    S    0    X       a    R    0    W     T    H 


III 


There  are  some  of  you,  probably, 
who  will  still  find  it  hard  to  believe  that 
the  Germany  you  knew  can  be  guilty  of 
the  crimes  which  have  made  it  an  out- 
law amongst  the  nations.  But  do  you 
know  modern  Germany?  Unless  you 
have  been  there  within  the  last  twenty- 
five  years,  not  once  or  twice,  but  at 
regular  intervals ;  unless  you  have  looked 
below  the  glittering  surface  of  the  mar- 
velous material  progress  and  achieve- 
ment and  seen  how  the  soul  of  Ger- 
many was  being  eaten  away  by  the 
virulent  poison  of  Prussianism;  unless 
you  have  watched  and  followed  the 
appalling    transformation    of    German 

[181 


OF  PRUSSIA      X      I      S      M 

mentality  and  morality  under  the 
nefarious  and  puissant  influence  of  the 
priesthood  of  po^yer-^yorship,  you  do 
not  kno^Y  the  Germany  of  this  day  and 
generation. 

It  is  not  the  Germany  of  old,  the 
land  of  our  affectionate  remembrance. 
It  is  not  the  Germany  which  men  now 
of  middle  age  or  over  knew  in  their 
youth.  It  is  not  the  Germany  of  the 
first  Emperor  William,  a  modest  and 
God-fearing  gentleman.  It  is  not  the 
Germany,  even,  of  Bismarck,  man  of 
blood  and  iron  though  he  was,  who  had 
builded  a  structure  which,  Avhilst  not 
founded  on  liberty,  yet  was  capable 
and  gave  promise  of  going  doAvn  into 
history  as  one  of  the  greatest  examples 
of  enlightened  and  even  beneficent 
autocracy;  who,  in  the  contemplative 
and  mellowed  wisdom  of  his  old  age, 
often  warned  the  nation  against  the 
very  spirit  Avhich,  alas,  came  to  have 

fl9  1 


TEE       POISON       GROWTH 

sway  over  it,  and  against  the  very  war 
which  that  spirit  unchained. 

The  Germany  which  brought  upon 
the  world  the  immeasurable  disaster 
of  this  war,  and  at  whose  monstrous 
deeds  and  doctrines  the  civilized  na- 
tions of  the  earth  stand  aghast,  started 
into  definite  being  less  than  thirty 
years  ago.  I  can  almost  lay  my  finger 
upon  the  date  and  circumstances  of  its 
ill-omened  advent. 

Less  than  thirty  years  ago,  a  *'new 
course"  was  flamboyantly  proclaimed 
by  those  in  authority,  and  the  term 
*'new  course"  became  the  order  of  the 
day.  With  it  and  from  it  there  came  a 
truly  marvelous  quickening  of  the 
energies  and  creative  abilities  of  the 
nation,  a  period  of  material  achieve- 
ment and  of  social  progress,  in  short,  a 
national  forward  movement  almost 
unequalled  in  history.  The  world 
looked  on  in  admiration,  perhaps  not 

[20] 


OF  P     R      U     S     S     I     A      N     I     S      M 

entirely  free  from  a  tinge  of  envy. 
Germany  was  conquering  the  earth  by 
peaceful  penetration;  and  no  one  stood 
in  its  way.  It  had  free  access  to  all 
the  seas  and  all  the  lands. 

But  with  that  "new  course"  and 
from  it  there  also  came  a  new  god,  a 
false  and  evil  god.  He  exacted  as  sac- 
rifices for  his  altars  the  time-honored 
ideals  of  the  fathers,  and  other  high  and 
noble  things.  And  his  commands  were 
obeyed. 

There  came  upon  the  German  people 
a  whole  train  of  new  and  baneful 
influences  and  impulses,  formidably 
stimulating  as  a  powerful  drug.  There 
came,  amongst  other  evils,  materialism 
and  covetousness  and  irreligion;  over- 
weening arrogance,  an  impatient  con- 
tempt for  the  rights  of  the  weak,  a 
mania  for  world  dominion,  and  a 
veritable  lunacy  of  power  worship. 
There  came  also  a  fixed  and  irrational 

[211 


THE       POISON       GROWTH 

distrust  of  the  intentions  of  other  na- 
tions, for  the  evil  which  had  crept  into 
their  own  souls  made  them  see  evil  in 
others,  and  that  distrust  w  as  nurtured 
carefully  and  deliberately  by  those  in 
authority. 

And,  finally,  there  came  "the  day"  in 
which  the  "new  course,"  fatally  and 
inevitably,  was  bound  to  culminate. 
There  came  the  old  temptation,  as 
old  as  humanity  itself.  The  Tempter 
took  the  Prussian  and  Prussianized 
rulers  up  a  high  mountain  and  showed 
them  all  the  riches  and  power  of  the 
world.  Showed  them  the  great  coun- 
tries and  capitals  of  the  earth  teeming 
with  peaceful  labor — Brussels,  Paris, 
London,  aye,  and  New  York,  and  told 
them :  "Look  at  these.  Use  your  power 
ruthlessly  and  they  are  yours."  And 
those  rulers  did  not  say:  "Get  thee 
behind  me,  Satan;"  but  they  said: 
"Lead  on,  Satan,  and  we  shall  follow 

[221 


OF  P     R     U     S     S     I     A     N     I     S     M 

thee."  And  follow  him  they  did,  and 
brought  upon  the  green  earth  the  red 
ruin  of  hell. 

And  with  rejoicing  they  greeted  "the 
day."  It  was  to  bring  them,  as  one 
German  in  an  important  position  here 
expressed  it  to  me,  in  August,  1914,  "a 
merry  war  and  victory  before  the  year 
is  out." 


23 


TEE       POISON       GROWTH 


IV 


Truly,  history  affords  no  parallel  to 
the  spiritual  poisoning  and  the  result- 
ing horrible  transmutation  of  a  whole 
people,  such  as  Prussianism  wrought 
in  the  incredibly  short  period  of  one 
generation.  Nor  would  I  believe  that 
such  a  dreadful  phenomenon  could  pos- 
sibly take  place  were  it  not  for  the 
evidence  of  my  own  eyes  and  my  own 
ears. 

My  observations  led  me  to  think, 
however,  that  Prussianism  had  reached 
the  crest  of  its  influence  some  years 
before  the  war  and  that  liberal  tenden- 
cies were  beginning  to  make  headway 
against  it. 

[24] 


OF  P     R     U     S     S     I     A     N     I     S     M 

There  were  many  men  in  Germany 
before  the  war  who  were  opposed  to  and 
saw  the  dangers  arising  from  mihtarist 
ambition  and  jingo  teaching  and  raised 
their  voices  against  them  in  warning. 
There  was  the  ever-increasing  Sociahst 
vote  which,  although  Sociahsm  in  the 
German  Empire  does  not  mean  what  it 
means  in  Russia  and  amongst  the 
extremists  in  our  country,  did  mean 
opposition  to  Junker  methods  and 
reactionary  tendencies. 

I  am  by  no  means  sure  that  the  very 
growth  and  spread  of  that  hberal  spirit 
did  not  have  some  influence  in  causing 
the  mihtarist  chque  to  precipitate  the 
war,  as  throughout  history  autocracy 
has  resorted  frequently  to  the  unity- 
compehing  force  of  war  in  order  to 
arrest,  divert  and  thwart  Hberahsm 
and  independence. 

To  deceive  the  German  people,  and 
steel  them  to  patriotic  determination 

[25] 


THE       POISON       GROWTH 

and  sacrifice,  the  Prussian  rulers  and 
their  spokesmen  affirmed  at  the  begin- 
ning of  the  war,  and  have  kept  re- 
affirming ever  since  with  nauseating 
reiteration  and  disgusting  hypocrisy, 
that  theirs  was  a  defensive  war,  forced 
upon  them  by  wicked  and  envious 
neighbors.    A  defensive  war,  indeed! 

Let  me  review  very  rapidly  the  cir- 
cumstances which  surrounded  the  be- 
ginning of  the  w  ar.  Austria,  after  the 
friction  of  long  standing  between  the 
two  countries,  which  had  reached  its 
culminating  point  in  the  murder  of 
the  Austrian  heir-apparent  on  Serbian 
soil,  sent  an  ultimatum  to  Serbia. 
The  conditions  of  that  ultimatum, 
although  unexampled  in  their  severity 
and  sweeping  demands,  w  ere  accepted 
by  Serbia  almost  in  their  entirety. 

Austria  insisted  on  acceptance  to 
the  very  letter,  unconditional  and 
absolute,    within     twenty-four     hours 

[26] 


OF  P     R     U     S     S     I     A     N     I     S     M 

or  war,  whereupon  Russia  declared 
that,  if  war  was  thus  forced  upon 
Httle  Serbia,  she  would  stand  by 
her.  After  much  backing  and  filling,  at 
the  last  minute,  Austria  shrank  from 
the  calamity  of  a  world  conflagration 
and  declared  herself  ready  to  enter  into 
friendly  negotiations  with  Russia. 
The  frightful  danger  which  threatened 
the  world  seemed  to  be  on  the  way  of 
being  removed. 

But  the  Prussian  militarist  party, 
seeing  in  their  grasp  the  opportunity 
for  which  they  had  planned  and  plotted 
these  thirty  years,  were  not  willing  to 
let  it  go  by,  and  they  did  not  shrink 
from  the  catastrophe  which  was  in- 
volved. 

Heretofore  Austria  had  held  the  cen- 
tre of  the  stage  and  Germany  had  pro- 
fessed herself  unable  to  interfere.  But 
when  Austria  was  on  the  point  of  re- 
ceding, Germany  did  interfere,  and,  on 

[27] 


THE       POISON       GROWTH 

the  plea  of  the  menace  of  the  Russian 
mobihzation  (a  mobihzation  ^Yhich 
there  is  reason  to  suspect  was  dehb- 
erately  provoked  through  machina- 
tions from  Berhn),  started  the  war  by 
an  ultimatum  to  Russia,  which  was 
tantamount  to  declaring  war,  on  the 
very  day  on  which  Austria  yielded. 
Let  it  be  remembered  that  whatever 
menace  the  Russian  mobilization  may 
have  contained  was  infinitely  greater 
against  Austria  than  against  Germany, 
and  yet  Austria,  on  the  last  day  in 
July,  1914,  declared  herself  ready  to 
negotiate. 

I  know  something  from  actual  and 
personal  experience  of  the  plotting  of 
the  Prussian  war  party,  and  how  for  a 
full  generation  they  had  endeavored 
again  and  again  to  bring  about  a  situa- 
tion which  would  force  war  upon  the 
world.  I  know  of  my  personal  knowl- 
edge that  the  stage  was  set  for  it  six 

[28] 


OF  P     R     U     S     S     I     A     N     I     S     M 

or  seven  years  ago  in  connection  with 
tlie  Agadir  episode. 

I  know  that  the  Pan-Germans  meant 
to  have  a  footing  in  South  America, 
and,  once  there,  would  have  threatened 
and  had  prepared  to  threaten,  this  very 
country  of  ours. 

I  know  that  Austria,  in  1913,  meant 
to  conquer  Serbia,  and  so  informed  her 
then  ahy,  Italy,  beheving  that  she 
could  do  so  with  impunity. 

And  I  know  that  Austria  did  not 
beheve  that  her  ultimatum  to  Serbia  in 
July,  1914,  would  bring  on  a  serious  war. 

I  know  it,  because  the  week  following 
the  outbreak  of  the  war  I  saw  a  letter 
just  arrived  from  a  gentleman  in  high 
position  in  Austria,  connected  with 
the  Austrian  Foreign  Office,  in  which, 
writing  to  New  York  under  date  of 
about  July  20,  1914,  he  said: 

"We  are  now  passing  through  a  nerve- wear- 
ing time  because  of  our  difficulty  with  Serbia, 

[291 


TEE       POISON       GROWTH 

but  by  the  time  this  letter  reaches  you  every- 
thing will  be  all  right  again.  The  Serbians 
have  been  intriguing  against  us  these  many 
years,  and  this  time  they  must  be  settled  with 
for  good  and  all.  We  shall  go  in  and  take 
Belgrade,  but  inasmuch  as  we  have  given  as- 
surance to  Russia  that  we  shall  not  perma- 
nently interfere  with  the  integrity  and  inde- 
pendence of  Serbia,  and  inasmuch  as  neither 
Russia  nor  her  Allies  are  ready  to  fight,  the 
whole  thing  will  be  a  military  promenade  and 
will  have  no  serious  consequences." 

A  defensive  Avar!  Was  it  a  defensive 
war  which  Prussianism  was  thinking  of 
when  it  declined  England's  repeated 
offer  for  a  reduction  by  both  countries 
of  the  building  of  warships ;  when  it  re- 
fused at  the  last  Hague  conference  to 
discuss  the  limitation  of  standing  armies 
and  armaments ;  Avhen  Germany — alone 
amongst  the  great  nations — rejected 
our  offer  of  a  treaty  of  arbitration? 

Years  before  the  war,  Nietzsche, 
than  whom  no  man  had  greater  influ- 

[30] 


OF  P     R     U     S     S     I     A     N     I     S     M 

ence  in  shaping  the  trend  of  German 
thought  in  the  past  thirty  years,  wrote : 

"You  shall  love  peace  as  a  means  to  prepare 
for  new  wars.  You  say  that  a  good  cause 
may  hallow  even  war,  but  I  say  to  you  that  it 
is  a  good  war  which  hallows  every  cause." 

On  July  29,  1914,  the  well  informed 
German  newspaper,  "Vorwaerts,"  de- 
clared : 

"The  camarilla  of  war-lords  is  working  with 
absolutely  unscrupulous  means  to  carry  out 
their  fearful  designs  to  precipitate  a  world 
war." 

In  October,  1914,  three  months  after 
the  outbreak  of  the  war,  Maximilian 
Harden,  one  of  the  ablest  and  most 
influential  of  German  publicists,  wrote : 

"Let  us  renounce  those  miserable  efforts  to 
excuse  the  actions  of  Germany  in  declaring 
war.  It  is  not  against  our  will  that  we  have 
thrown  ourselves  into  this  gigantic  adventure. 
The  war  has  not  been  imposed  upon  us  by 

[311 


THE       POISON       GROWTH 

others  and  by  surprise.  We  have  willed  the 
war.  It  was  our  duty  to, will  it.  We  decHne 
to  appear  before  the  tribunal  of  united  Europe. 
We  reject  its  jurisdiction.  One  principle  alone 
counts  and  no  other — one  principle  which 
contains  and  sums  up  all  the  others — might.'' 

I  could  go  on  for  hours  quoting  sim- 
ilar views  and  sentiments  from  the 
utterances  of  leading  German  writers 
and  educators  before  and  since  the 
war.  (It  is  worth  mentioning,  though, 
that  Maximilian  Harden  has  seen  a  new 
hght,  and  for  some  time  has  been  cour- 
ageously speaking  and  writing  in  a  very 
different  strain.  There  are  a  number 
of  influential  men  in  Germany  who, 
like  him,  have  undergone  a  change  of 
mind  and  heart.  Strong  and  outspoken 
assertions  of  liberal  sentiment  and  in- 
dependent aspirations  have  found  ut- 
terance in  that  country  in  the  course  of 
the  last  six  months,  such  as  have  not 
been  heard  within  its  frontiers  these 
many  years. 

[32] 


0     F  P     R      U     S     S     I      A      N     I     S      M 

A  defensive  war!  There  are  certain 
telegrams  from  Sir  Edward  Grey,  the 
British  Minister  for  Foreign  Affairs,  to 
the  British  Ambassador  in  Germany, 
sent  during  the  week  preceding  the 
outbreak  of  the  war  in  Europe,  which 
even  to  this  day  are  unknown  in  Ger- 
many, as  they  were  never  permitted  to 
be  pubhshed.  In  these  messages  the 
British  Foreign  Minister  went  almost 
on  his  knees  to  beg  Germany  to  consent 
to  a  conference  in  order  to  avoid  w  ar. 

He  went  to  the  utmost  limits  in 
promising  benevolent  consideration  for 
Germany's  viewpoint  and  wishes,  then 
and  in  the  future,  and  he  stated  that  if 
Germany  would  put  forward  any  reason- 
able proposition  honestly  calculated  to 
maintain  peace,  England  would  sup- 
port it  with  all  of  its  influence,  and  if 
France  and  Russia  would  not  fall  in  line 

[331 


THE       POISON       GROWTH 

England  would  promptly  separate  it- 
self from  these  two  countries. 

These  overtures  and  pleas  met  with 
no  response  from  the  Masters  of  Ger- 
many.     They    declared    war. 

It  is  probably  true  that  the  Russian 
Pan-Slavists  had  planned  war  sooner  or 
later,  just  as  the  Pan-Germans  did. 
War  might  perhaps  have  come  then  or 
at  some  other  time,  even  if  the  Prus- 
sian rulers^  had  not  precipitated  it. 
But  the  fact  remains  that  it  was  the 
Imperial  German  Government  which 
did  declare  war.  For  having  antici- 
pated that  "perhaps,"  and  resolved  it 
according  to  their  own  plans  and  wishes, 
for  that,  their  initial  crime,  and  for 
those  which  followed,  the  rulers  of  the 
German  people  will  have  to  answer 
before  the  judgment  stool  of  God  and 
history.  Upon  them  rests  the  blood- 
guilt  for  this  dreadful  catastrophe 
which  has  befallen  the  world. 

i34] 


OF  PRUSSIANIS3I 


A  few  days  ago  I  read  a  poem  ad- 
dressed to  Germany,  of  which  these 
lines  have  remained  in  my  memory : 

"Oh,  land  of  now,  oh,  land  of  then, 
Dear  God,  the  dreams,  the  dreams  of  men! 
Enslaved,  immersed  in  greed  and  hate. 
Where  are  the  things  which  made  you  great?" 

The  things  which  made  Germany 
great  are  not  dead,  and  the  world  can- 
not afford  to  allow  them  to  die.  They 
belong  to  the  immortal  possessions  of 
the  human  race. 

They  have  passed,  for  the  time  being, 
alas,  out  of  the  keeping  of  the  mass  of 
the  German  people,  whose  glorious 
inheritance  they  were. 

[35] 


THE       POISON       GROWTH 

They  are  no^y  in  the  keeping  of  that 
minority,  not  perhaps,  very  great  as 
yet,  but  growing  steadily,  of  men  in 
Germany  itself  from  whose  eyes  the 
scales  have  begun  to  fall.  They  are  in 
the  keeping  of  all  the  nations  who 
appreciate  and  cherish  and  are  deter- 
mined to  maintain  those  great  and  high 
things  which  the  civilized  world  has 
attained  through  the  toil,  sacrifice  and 
suffering  of  its  best  in  the  course  of 
many  centuries.  And,  above  all,  they 
are  in  the  keeping  of  the  ten  or 
fifteen  millions  of  Americans  of  Ger- 
man descent. 

As  that  great  American  of  German 
birth,  Carl  Schurz,  and  many  other 
brave  and  high-minded  Germans — my 
own  father,  I  am  proud  to  say,  among 
them — in  1848  stood  in  arms  against 
Prussian  oppression,  for  liberal  ideas 
and  right  and  truth  and  freedom,  so  do 
we  stand  now.    In  fighting  for  the  cause 

[36] 


OF  P     R     U     S     S     I     A     N     I     S     M 

of  America  as  loyal  Americans,  we  are 
fighting  at  the  same  time  for  the  deliv- 
erance of  the  country  of  our  birth  from 
those  unrighteous  pow  ers  Avhich  hold  it 
enthralled  and  feed  upon  its  soul. 

If  ever  a  nation  entered  a  war  after 
having  maintained  infinite  forbearance 
in  the  face  of  grave  menace  and  dangers 
and  the  most  intolerable  affronts,  and 
from  motives  as  pure  and  high  as  the 
great  blue  dome  of  heaven,  America 
is  that  nation. 

We  seek  no  reward  whatsoever  of  a 
material  nature.  We  seek  no  ''place  in 
the  sun" — to  use  the  German  Chancel- 
lor's term — except  the  sun  of  liberty, 
and  that  we  do  not  seek  selfishly,  but  to 
share  with  all  the  world. 

America  is  not  waging  a  war  of  ven- 
geance, notwithstanding  all  the  injuries 
and  measureless  provocations  we  have 
received.  We  have  lighted  a  fire  to 
purify,  not  to  burn  at  the  stake. 

[37] 


THE      POISON       GROWTH 

America  is  incapable  of  hating  an 
entire  people,  but  we  do  hate,  we  are 
fighting  and  we  shall  fight  with  every 
ounce  of  our  might,  the  spirit  which 
has  power  over  the  people  of  Germany, 
and  which,  if  it  were  to  prevail — as, 
under  God,  it  never  will — would  destroy 
liberty,  justice  and  plighted  faith.  It 
was  not  the  people  of  Great  Britain 
which  America  fought  in  the  War  of  the 
Revolution,  but  the  spirit  and  the 
ruling  caste  which  then  held  sway  over 
them.  America  fought  then  for  an 
ideal  and  for  liberty  and  independence, 
and  sacrificed  blood  and  treasure  and 
suffered  and  endured  and  won.  And  so 
it  will  be  now. 

The  spirit  of  Prussianism  and  the 
spirit  of  Americanism  cannot  live  in 
the  same  world.  One  or  the  other  must 
conquer. 

In  the  mad  pride  of  its  contempt  for 
democracy,    Prussianism    has    thrown 

[38] 


OF  P     R      U     S     S     I     A      N     I     S     M 

down  the  gauntlet  to  us.  We  have 
taken  up  the  challenge  and  now  stand 
arrayed  by  the  side  of  the  other  free- 
dom-loving nations  of  the  world,  giving 
our  fresh  strength  and  our  boundless 
resources  to  them  who,  heroically  striv- 
ing, have  borne  the  heat  and  burden  of 
a  dreadfully  long  and  exhausting  strug- 
gle, yet  stand  unwearied,  erect  and 
resolute. 

The  enemy  is  of  formidable  strength. 
But  even  if  he  were  far  stronger  than  he 
is,  even  if  we  did  not  have  the  men  and 
the  means  which  are  ours,  even  if  our 
comrades-in-arms  had  not  demon- 
strated their  superb  and  indomitable 
prowess,  still  must  our  cause  prevail — 
for  there  is  fighting  with  us  a  force  which 
has  ever  proved  itself  stronger  than  any 
other  power  on  earth,  and  again  and 
again  has  triumphed  over  overwhelm- 
ing odds.     That  force,   God-inspired, 

[391 


THE       P    0    I    S    0    N       G    R    0    W    T    H 

death-defying    and    unconquerable,    is 
the  soul  of  man. 

And  when — Heaven  grant  it  may  be 
soon! — ^the  soul  of  the  German  people 
will  have  freed  itself  from  the  sinister 
powers  that  now  keep  it  in  ban  and 
bondage,  when  it  will  have  found  again 
the  high  impulses  and  aims  of  its  former 
self,  when  it  will  once  more  understand 
and  speak  the  universal  language  of 
humanity  and  right,  then,  in  God's  own 
time  there  will  be  peace. 


[4o: 


B     000  003  018     9 


